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Squeeze some new life out of old notebooks by installing a Linux operating system. Due to the open-source nature of Linux, there are different (free) distributions floating around for almost any use. A few good places to start are: Puppy Linux, which includes applications for common computer tasks; Damn Small Linux, which is so small that it can run on less than 50MB of space; or even gOS, a pure web-app distribution that assists in a natural leap to cloud computing.

Thinner, Lighter, Cooler

Notebooks are driven by consumers, not business, meaning style will rule in 2009, writes David Flynn.

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SMALL WONDER

On The Go

David Flynn cracks the lids on four notebooks and puts them to the test.

Wordsworth Steps Back As Sister Takes Centre Stage

The Ballad Of Dorothy Wordsworth By Frances Wilson Faber, 286pp, $59.95

Daydream Believers

An excuse to waste time or a means to unleash creativity? Alasdair Sandford meets The Doodle Notebook's creator, Claire Fay, and five scribblers open their notebooks.

My Space, Lisa Young

A clear, strong voice drifts through the trees surrounding Lisa Young's Warrandyte studio. On a bright, sunny morning, she is engaged in what is for her a strict daily ritual. The vocal improvisations that last year earned her Grace album Best Australian Jazz Vocal Album at the Australian Jazz Bell Awards are complex and demanding. Drawing inspiration from the instruments and vocal styles of India and Africa, she performs a jazz-based konnakkol, or vocal percussion. Notebooks filled with vocal ...

Apple Loses Business

Apple's stylish notebooks may be common in cafes and schools but despite success with consumers, the company is on the fringes with business.

Tiny Dynamites

Take a load off with these miniature road warriors, writes Adam Turner.

Drawing On Real Life

Pam Hallandal's small and demure exterior belies a gritty soul. As a young sculptor, she was told by males she was not strong enough to sculpt, so in silent response, she chose to deal in larger, heavier forms. In her long career as a drawer, she has heard innumerable times that drawing is irrel

Mini-notebooks Aim To Trounce The Handhelds

THE 233MHz Pentium "Tillamook" chips, 14.1 inch screens, 5Gb hard disks and now DVD drives - it's an exciting time for well-heeled road warriors, but not all the action is taking place at the top end of town. On the way is a new breed of mini-notebooks, powered by a 120MHz MMX Pentium c

Getting Mobilised: How The Latest Notebooks Stack Up

There's more to a high-end notebook than its processor and screen. DARREN YATES looks at the contenders in the battle for notebook supremacy. WHILE there are plenty of battles being fought for the minor placings in budget notebooks, the top-end is strictly the domain of the "big-name" b

Notebooks Notch Up Sales Success

The latest battlefield for sales is on the laps of increasingly mobile computer-users, reports Kester Cranswick. THE laptop computer is a thing of the recent past. Battery-powered computers that work in aeroplanes, client offices and at home are now called notebooks, or PowerBooks, and increasin